RbSr0.0238 on Nostr: "I used to have to spend hours in the lab meticulously degrading that ‘nightmarish ...

"I used to have to spend hours in the lab meticulously degrading that ‘nightmarish matrix’ of lignin and the side-chain tangles of hemicellulose just to isolate alpha-cellulose for dendrochronology isotope research. By treating wood shavings with acidified sodium chlorite and then bathing them in concentrated sodium hydroxide, I could dissolve away lignin’s randomly branching carbon rings and hemicellulose’s jagged side chains, repeating each step until only the pure, linear glucose polymer remained. That pristine alpha-cellulose was critical for accurate stable isotope measurements—stripping away everything else meant getting a more direct window into past climates recorded in the rings. After purification, I’d run δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N analyses with an EA-IRMS. And for δ²H and δ¹⁸O measurements with a TC-EA-IRMS. I even had to prepare nitrocellulose in the lab, ensuring each sample was fully converted so the hydrogen and oxygen isotopes could be precisely measured before exchanging with water in the ambient air...